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Squirrels become popular dish

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Grey squirrel

Some refer to them as tree rats, but the common grey squirrel is fast becoming the most ethical dish served up in Britain.

The new meat is low in fat, low in food miles and completely free range, making it an extremely popular choice with foodies who want to keep their eco-credentials intact.

Squirrel meat in Cornwall is flying off shelves quicker than hunters can shoot them. 'We put it on the shelf and it sells. It can be a dozen squirrels a day - and they all go,' said David Simpson, the director of Kingsley Village shopping centre in Fraddon, Cornwall, who began selling grey squirrel meat at his game counter two months ago.

'People like the fact it is wild meat, low in fat and local - so no food miles,' added Simpson.

Some say the £3.50 squirrel tastes like a cross between lamb and duck, others have likened it to wild boar. Butcher David Ridley says: 'It's moist and sweet because, basically, its diet has been berries and nuts.'

Monday 12 May 2008

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Gross. Like we don't kill enough creatures already and waste mountains of food?
Comment by poshpaws on May 12 14:00

This is just wrong!
Comment by Gail on May 12 14:15

I waste NO food and try to buy local produce. Our garden is over-run with grey squirrels who are greedy and destructive. They eat all the food I put out for the birds and destroy the feeders which contain the stuff they don't like. They eat buds on the trees so the birds can't get to them. They dig up everything I plant, so I can't grow my own vegetables or salad. Yes, they look cute sometimes, but I can see nothing wrong with eating them. They are vermin, no matter how cute you may think they are.
Comment by Sue on May 12 17:54

Seeing as the immigrant grey squirrel has all but killed off our native red squirrel, why shouldn't we eat it?
Comment by Est on May 12 19:32

Firstly you can't blame the grey squirrel for coming to this country, they didn't choose to. And, I'm really sad what happened to our lovely red squirrel. But, if they are vermin, are we going to see RAT on the menu next? Our towns are over-run with these but no-one seems willing to eat one, I wonder why, surely meat is meat, right?
Comment by Ms V Atkin on May 14 01:44

I am a meat - eater, but eating squirrel comes into the same category as eating dog or horse for me. Just couldn't do it! I know they're a real pain, but they are cute. Plus, I don't think you would get a great deal of meat for your money!
Comment by Helen Boyle on June 11 11:53

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